Tuesday, April 28, 2015

MURFREESBORO — Two
women who overcame barriers to reach the heights of military achievement will
headline MTSU’s second annual LGBT+ College Conference.

The gathering, which carries the theme of “Diversify Your
World,” is slated for April 9-11 at various locations on campus. A complete
schedule is available at http://tinyurl.com/qa5nuf9. For a campus parking map, go to http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParking14-15.

Brig. Gen. Tammy S. Smith, deputy chief of staff in the U.S.
Army Reserve, will speak at the conference awards dinner at 7:30 p.m. Saturday,
April 11, in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building.

Smith is the armed forces’ first active-duty, openly gay
flag officer to acknowledge her homosexuality publicly since the repeal of the
“don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in 2011.

The dinner will honor and recognize outstanding civic,
corporate, community and academic leaders in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender communities and their allies in Tennessee. Registration is
required. Tickets are $50 per person.

Former U.S. Marine Corps pilot Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour, who
was MTSU’s 2014 Alumna of the Year, will return to campus to deliver the
conference’s keynote addressat 7 p.m. Friday, April 10, in the
State Farm Lecture Hall of the Business and Aerospace Building.

Armour was the
first black female combat pilot and first black female naval aviator in the
Marine Corps. After her military career, she founded VAI Consulting and
Training LLC, a motivational speaking service.

Hosted by the
College of Behavioral and Health Sciences and the MT Lambda student
organization, the conference is an opportunity for students, faculty and staff
from colleges and universities to discuss subjects important to the LGBT+
communities.

Poster
presentations of research related to LGBT+ issues will be on display from 11
a.m. to noon and from 3-4 p.m. Thursday, April 9, in the Sam Ingram Building,
2269 Middle Tennessee Blvd.

Attendees are
invited to discuss their research with corporate and community sponsors, which
include Deloitte Services LLC, a financial advisory firm, and Nissan North
America.

Original
one-minute films with LGBT+ themes will be screened from 6:45-8 p.m. April 9 in
the Keathley University Center Theater. The winners will be determined by
audience approval.

Ilona Turner,
legal director of the San Francisco-based Transgender Law Center, will discuss
“The Legal and Right Way to Inclusion” at 10:30 a.m. April 11 in Room 160 of
the College of Education Building.

With the
exception of the awards dinner, the entire conference is free and open to the
public. For more information, contact Dr. William Langston, psychology professor
and faculty adviser to MT Lambda, at 615-898-5489 or william.langston@mtsu.edu.